Russian boffins want to nuke asteroids Russian space scientists want to deploy nukes against killer asteroids. Russia and India Report quotes Tomsk State University scientist Tatyana Galushina explaining modelling led by the university to find out how best to blow up a dangerous asteroid. Galushina reckons a near-Earth rock that poses a future threat could be …
Personally, I think the best way of getting around the on-coming asteroid is to spot it in time - nice idea, but we're talking about bozos, politicos, and whatnots here, who wouldn't know an emerging threat if it bit them in the bum, and then only when it becomes an electorate issue - send up a pair of Soyuz converted to carry reasonably high-powered lasers and several months of thrust, have one behind and in one front of the asteroid, and ablate enough off the asteroid to change its orbit significantly.
Could also be used to capture said asteroid and mine it.
Only works when politicos aren't bozos, but that's a mighty big ask.
Could we send the politicians to the asteroid, concentrate them on one side, and let the emanations of hot air deflect the asteroid gently?
Tell them they are going to make history, and will get an unrivalled degree of visibility amongst the electorate.
Regrettably, a return journey is impossible due to budget cuts they proposed (information on this will only be divulged on a need-to-know basis).
Win-win situation in my book
Surely this is an opportunity for a moon-based mass accelerator? When it's not throwing slugs at asteroids, it could be firing spacecraft off on trips to other worlds?
Chuck an inflatable moon base up there and a self-assembling accelerator.
Maybe SpaceX or Prof Hawking are already on the case..
Instead of trying to vaporize a big rock with a big warhead, how about using a string of small warheads? You detonate them right on the surface. Vaporized rock will be the reaction mass. Repeat until you've got enough delta vee for the rock to be in a desirable orbit.
You'd be hitting the rock in the "side" as viewed from Earth. The radioactive debris would mostly be ejected at high speed away from Earth.
This technique could also be used to slow down the spin of a rock and even nudge it into orbit around the Earth if its original orbit were close enough to Earth's. Bore tunnels in it (away from the radioactive bits), seal and pressurize them. Space station, anyone? This technique could provide quite a bit of cubic space for human use while reducing the need to lift building materials to Earth orbit. If you're lucky, the rock may even contain water, so you could make breathing air and fuel on the spot, again not having to lift it from Earth.
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